We quote the brethern when we speak of the importance of avoiding debt.Hevenly Father does inspire those who lead us with this wise advice.When the prophets instruct us to stay out of debt then it is from the Lord.I also feel that God has given us a keen mind of our own capable of coming up with the same advice.Between mans ability to deturmine what is best and the Lords advice through his servants,we should do well as we follow both.

I once knew someone with a very high income but who was a very high consumer. He carried a lot of debt. I was a licensed financial advisor and told him he needed to get out of debt and get some cash reserve. It didn't matter how many DISASTER SCENARIOS I came up with, he wouldn't listen to anything I said. He actually stated that he couldn't see that ANYTHING could go wrong.

Then President Hinckley spoke in the General Priesthood session of Conference. He counseled the brethren to GET OUT OF DEBT. I said to him "did you hear what President Hinckley said?" His reply was "That's nothing new. They've been saying that for a long time." I said, " Oh, so that means it's not valid, right?" Nothing I could say would get him to change his behavior.

I have since learned that he has lost EVERYTHING and his fourth wife has left him. He had continued his foolish behavior and when an investment went south he was in too much debt to make it.

THIS WAS A REAL-LIFE LEARNING EXERIENCE FOR ME. We need to follow the prophet, live providently and GET OUT OF DEBT.

One of the reasons I love the Prophet Joseph Smith is----he declared bankruptcy (read Rough Stone Rolling by Bushman) and he had marriage problems too. He was like the rest of us, not above us. We don't talk of this over the pulpit because not all truth is uplifting and inspiring. Joseph's talent was not in finance and economics and banking. And if I am not mistaken the church had debt from 1830 to 1898 when Lorenzo Snow took us into a new era of economic freedom. So it sometimes takes people and organizations decades to get out of debt. Time heals. In a perfect world, we would all go to Ivy League colleges and make big money and be able to solve the big problems out there in world: increase of college tuition, increase of food prices, increase of gasoline, increase of debt due to war and greed. We are all a part of this and there is no easy way out except to maybe start your own business which is what most people did 100 years ago.

thank you for the reminder